Jul 27, 2016 PHILADELPHIA -- Speculation has been rampant for months that the NFL will hold the 2017 NFL Draft in Philadelphia and two independent sources with knowledge of the league's plans tell NJ Advance Media an announcement is set for either Tuesday August 2 or Tuesday 8. An individual in the league office says that because of the Democratic National Convention being held in Philadelphia this week, the NFL still is working out the logistics for actually making the official announcement. One individual tells NJ Advance Media that representatives from NFL Network were in Philadelphia earlier this month scouting multiple potential sites for the event. U.S. Congressman Bob Brady has already gone on record saying that the City of Brotherly Love will be home to the event. "The NFL wanted to come here, which is a good start," Brady told Philadelphia Inquirer. "I talked with the mayor. The mayor had a concern about money because he didn't want to put the city in debt, rightfully so, so we had to go around and see if we could get some people that would help finance it, and I think we were kind of successful. "They are going to do it out in the open on the Parkway for three days. It's a three-day draft. They are going to build a stage, and I'm sure they are going to put up some type of enclosure in case it rains. But that's what the NFL wanted. They wanted to do it right on the Parkway, I think, I don't know but I would imagine, with the art museum as the backdrop. They wanted to come here and do that so we just had to guarantee them money." Philadelphia has been no stranger to major events over the past two years. TheDemocratic National Convention is being held at the Wells Fargo Center this week and Pope Francis visited Philadelphia last Fall as part of the World Meeting of Families. The NFL has been searching for alternate locations for the draft after holding the event in Chicago the past two years and ahead of potentially moving it to a permanent home at the Los Angeles Rams new stadium, potentially as early as 2018. It is worth noting that the Eagles traded away their first-round draft choice in 2017 as part of the deal with the Cleveland Browns to acquire the No. 2 overall pick in April's NFL Draft to select quarterback Carson Wentz. @NFLsxn Might get tickets for this, depends whether or not we end up with a 1st rd draft pick though.
